OI1MUZD. 



OROGRAPHY. 



Character. 



however, was the head of her low, who w* swimming at the time, 

 and the end of it was, that, aocoording to custom, he was immediately 

 gazetted as a constellation, with hi* club and lion'* skin. 



Orion is surrounded by Kridanua, Cani* Major, Gemini, Auriga, and 

 Taurus. The position of hi* belt, with respect to Aldebaran, and 

 Siriu*. and the proximity of Procyon, Castor and Pollux, the Pleiades, 

 Ac., render it difficult to forget and unnecessary to describe thi* part 

 of the heaven*. The list of star* i* as follows : a and , of the first 

 magnitude, were frequently called Betelguese or BetcUjeux, and Rigel, 

 corruption* from Arabic name* ; 7 was called BeUatrix. 



No. In Catalogue No. In Catalogue 

 of Flanutesd, of British 



(Bradley).. Awodauon. Magnitude. 



' 1 1486 4 



* a 1491 4 



* 3 1495 4 



19 16-23 1 

 y 24 1687 3 

 n 28 1684 8 



1 84 1730 a 

 A 89 1749 4 

 i 44 1762 4 

 < 46 1765 2 

 a 48 1780 4 

 ( 50 1794 2 

 it 53 1843 8 

 a 68 1883 1 

 H 61 1928 4 



(729) 4 



ORMUZD. . 



OROGRAPHY, or OROLOQY, from &pot a mountain, and 

 description, and \6yos, discourse, respectively, (Hie science of mountaiat,) 

 belongs technically to three branches of natural knowledge, physical 

 geography, meteorology, and geology ; but it is usually regarded as a 

 part of the first, and confined to the subjects of the configuration, 

 magnitude, and distribution of mountains, with some general reference, 

 also, to their climate, and to their relations to organic nature. 



Though the term mountain be universally understood, yet it will 

 be found very difficult to define strictly what is meant by it. From 

 the mole-hill in the meadow, to the gigantic Himalayas, the gradations 

 are infinite, and no positive line can be drawn between the hill and the 

 mountain. Moreover, the name is sometimes given to a single eleva- 

 tion or peak, a* Mount ^-Ktiia, Ac,, and sometimes to a whole and 

 extensive cluster of eminences, as Mount Caucasus. Isolated moun- 

 tains are rare, and when they do exist are generally, though not always, 

 volcanic. 



The general disposition of mountains is in groups or chains. The 

 word group explains itself, but what is understood by a chain may not 

 be so clear. When hill* or mountains are so arranged aa to form a 

 line or band whose length greatly exceeds its breadth, such a dispo- 

 sition, whether the line be straight or curved, is called a chain, and 

 sometimes a ridge ; though the latter name is more exclusively applied 

 to the leaser chains. We are not however to understand by a chain of 

 mountains, a single unbroken longitudinal eminence, like that formed 

 by the connected roofs of a row of houses. A chain of mountains, on 

 the contrary, is very irregular, and composed of many subordinate 

 parts. In what is regarded by some geographers as a complete chain 

 there are three parallel or nearly parallel ridges; the centre one is 

 usually the highest. These three ridges, though distinct, are seldom 

 equidistant from each other, and they are frequently united. From 

 the points of junction, and from different parts of the outer ridges, 

 other chains strike off at various angles, and these in turn send off 

 other ramifications, which go on dividing and diminishing in height 

 till the last undulations are lost in the general surface of the plain. 

 Theae different branches of a chain have received various and very 

 arbitrary names. Some divide the whole system of a chain into the 

 primary, principal, primordial, or great chain, and secondary and 

 tertiary chains ; but these names having now reference to the order of 

 formation of rocks rather than to their disposition, though the latter 

 circumstance is greatly dependent on the former, they are at present 

 confined to geological consideration!, and we therefore aay such a chain 

 or ridge is a branch of some other chain or ridge. Thus the Apen 

 nines are a branch of the Alps. Minor ramifications, when short, are 

 called spurn. Wherever the main chain sends off other chains, the 

 former U, at that particular spot, higher than elsewhere, so that 

 between two consecutive elevations there is an apparent depression : 

 hence the summit or ridge-line of the main chain is divided into 

 height*, which are called peak*, domes, &e , according to their shape ; 

 and depressions, which receive the general name of passes, because 

 they are the places where the passage over the chain from opposite 

 valleys i* most easily effected. These passages or passes are termed 

 col* in the Alps, port* in the Pyrenees, and perluu in the Jura. They 

 are also called gorges or defiles, but incorrectly, for the gorge is 

 properly the contracted part of a valley, and the defile, a very narrow 

 passage at the foot of the mountains or winding amongst them. The 



', *, i 3 , of Bsyer are t, ', and r in modern catalogue". 



ridge-line of great chain* is also irregular in breadth as well a* h< 

 it U sometimes very narrow and sometimes very broad, and in some 

 place* spreads out into what is termed table -huid \ l.an.i!iii-M in Norway). 

 Table-land*, or plateau*, are however not always of this terrace fm -m : 

 they are not uufrequeutly sunk, if we may so say, into the broad 

 .summit of the ridge, so aa to be surrounded by lofty eminences and 

 peak*. Table-land is also sometimes ascended by gentle accli 

 without any appearance of mountains. 



The valleys which are situated between the parallel ridges of the 

 main chain are termed longitudinal valleys ; their axis, and conae- 

 ijr.. ntlv the principal watercourse, is nearly parallel to the direction of 

 the chain. The valley of the Hhono above the lake of Cienuva, the 

 valley of the Magdalen* in South America, Ac., may be taken a* 

 examples. Two things have been remarked in longitudinal valleys; 

 first, that there U sometimes so perfect a conformity between the re- 

 entering angles on one aide and the salient angles on the other, that if 

 it were possible to bring the two sides into contact, they would 

 perfectly correspond, so as to leave no trace of their having been 

 separated ; and, secondly, it has been observed, that the side of the 

 valley opposite tothe centre ridge is the steepest. These observations 

 are true as regards many places, but are by no means to be received aa 

 universally correct. The other valleys, whose axes form various 

 angles with the direction of the great chain, are the principal 

 of a country, and are usually designated by the names of the chief 

 rivers which flow through them. The valleys of the tributary stream* 

 which empty themselves into the main rivers are called lateral valleys. 

 The terms upper and lower valley are sometimes used to denote the 

 parts of a valley as they lie along the higher or lower part of a river's 

 course. Such then are the parts of a regular chain of mountains, but 

 we are not to suppose that all those great elevations to which w. 

 the name of chain are thus regularly formed. Mountains are some- 

 times grouped, as we have said, so a to present no appearance of a 

 chain ; sometimes the chains run parallel, but wholly iiul 

 each other; in some cases they radiate from a commoi 

 nucleus. Indeed nothing can be well more irregular than the arrange- 

 ment of mountains, and they differ as much in height, steepness, and 

 [articular appearance. By some (Bergmann) it has been imagined that 

 in chains running north and south the western slope is the most abrupt, 

 and thiit when the chain runs east and west the southern slope 

 steepest. But this is far from being always the case, and C. 

 Andreossy has laid down as a principle that the steep side of a 

 chain of mountains is that which looks towards the higher part of 

 the general slope on which the chain is set. This opinion is doubtless 

 better founded than that of Bergmann, nevertheless it is not strictly 

 correct ; and there seems reason to believe that no general law obtains 

 on tin's subject. 



The appearance presented by chains of mountains is not only very 

 different in different parts, but the very same mountains when * 

 a distance no way resemble their aspect when seen nearer. At a dis- 

 tance the minute irregularities are lost in the general contour, and the 

 particular shadows are blended into a uniform tint. The forms of 

 rocks generally depend on their nature, and a practised eye can some- 

 times pretty correctly divine the latter from the former. These may 

 either present the aspect of needles or sharp pointed masses, or the 

 summit* may be dome-shaped, or stretch along like a vertical wall, 

 either entire or bearing a resemblance to ruined battlements and towers ; 

 sometimes the whole mass is piled up into a succession of gij,' mtio 

 steps or terraces. Individual mountains and hills also vary in t'orm ; 

 those which are volcanic are generally conical ; others are round, oval, 

 lumpy, saddle-backed, &c. 



Mountain-chain* are the natural water-sheds (the divortia aqun 

 but it must not be thence inferred, as has too frequently been the case, 

 that all water-sheds are mountain-chains. This erroneous idea has covered 

 our older maps with mountains where in nature not a hill is to be seen. 



Another error is to regard the mountains of the earth as so in my 

 connected chains, which, by starting from some particular point, may 

 be traced stretching and branching continuously over thewh"l< 

 of the globe. The fallacy of such pretended continuity is evident 

 from the difference in the arrangement as described by dinVrmt 

 writers. The truth is, that mountains are scattered over the surface 

 of the land in the greatest confusion, here isolated, there in groups or 

 in chains; the chains being in some places single and indi-| nd. nt. in 

 others connected; in one place running in parallel dir'-,-t.inn.-. in 

 another intersecting, crossing, or branching off at different angles ; in 

 some cases completely enclosing a certain extent of country so as to 

 form an entire and perfect basin, in others only partially enclosing a 

 space. In one country the mountains nrc set in the centre, or near 

 one of it* coasts, and in the direction of the greatest length of the 

 country ; in another, they are set across the country. In fact, the 

 chains are observed to be in all possible din -i -lions, U>th as regards the 

 points of the compass and the trending of the coast-lines. Thus with 

 the exception of the Andes and the Rocky Mountains, the Appala- 

 chians, the Ghauts of India, the coast-mountains of Abyssinia, the 

 Scandinavian Alps, and the Apennines, there is very little conformity 

 between the direction of mountain-chains and the configuration . I 

 countries. 



Mountains have a very important part to perform n the general 

 economy of the earth ; they arrest the fleeting clouds, whose pro- 



